"I advise no-one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount"
(Martin Luther)

One of the chief arguments used by the state secular authorities to refuse or denigrate home schooling is the charge that children are denied the essential "socialisation" experience which home schooling cannot provide. It amazes me that the social skills of home educated children is of such concern to those not involved although the concern rarely survives exposure to home educated children.

So what are the issues here? For one thing, one of the main reasons parents - Christian as well as non-Christian - remove their children from the state or public schooling system is precisely because of the problem of the negative socialisation influences that dominate their agendas. The children of home schoolers - and in particular Christian home schoolers - are alternatively socialised in the norms of the faith of their Christian fathers.

Christian home schooling - and in particular, the TEACH method which we recommend - emphasises throughout the education of each child, 60 social character traits which are taught and reinforced throughout the educational process each year. Each of these 60 traits are derived from the Bible and are as follows:

One of the pedagogues at the state school who conducts the annual tests for our own cooperative's children was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful manners and character of one of the Christian home schooling boys whom she tested. She remarked: "You are needed in this (state/public) school and could have such a positive influence on the class!" But she had missed the point entirely - the reason the child had such a beautiful personality was preceisely because he was home schooled in a Christian environment and away from the humanist environment of the state or public school! Had he abandoned home schooling in favour of state schooling it would only have been a matter of time before he was corrupted by the negative socialising forces in that school and destroyed all that his parents had achieved in educating him at home. How would he have been able to influence his class to become like him? By the one method that the state or public school forbids: witnessing of Elohim (God) and the Bible!

Now if these 60 virtues can be reproduced in Christian home-educated students, on what basis can the state possibly complain that such students are not receiving adequate socialisation, especially if one of their own was so complimentary about them? Or is their view of positive socialisation the kind of barbaric ruthlessness that the state or public school system so often produces unchecked?

There has been a considerable amount of research done on the topic of 'socialisation'. Shyers (1992) found that home educated children showed higher assertiveness and self-concept ratings than conventionally schooled children. He also found that home educated children demonstrated significanly lower levels of problem behaviour as a means of resolving social issues than children in schools. He pointed out that the findings called into question "the conclusions made by many educators ... that conventionally educated children are more socially well-adjusted than those who are home schooled". Shyers' final comment was that "more research should be conducted on the social adjustment of conventionally schooled children"!

Others have found the same. Ray (1990) conducted a review of a wide body of research on home schooling and socialisation and found that "children educated at home ... appear to be socially and emotionally well adjusted". Delahooke (1986) used the Roberts Appreciation Test for children and found that home-educated children were well adjusted and less peer dependent than conventionally schooled children. Smedley (1992) used the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale to study socialisation and also found that home-educated children were more mature and better socialised than conventionally schooled children.

None of this is surprising. As you will find (if you haven't done so already) it is a prerequisite of parental survival that home-educated children are relatively mature, well behaved and socially well-adjusted with good general social skills. This is helped by their rôle models being mature adults (their parents) rather than equally immature peers.

Other researchers (Rakestraw, 1987; Montgommery, 1989; Tilman, 1995) have also documented the unsurprising fact that children educated at home spend many hours a month with those outside the family in such activities as organised and impromptu sports, church activities, music lessons and other community-based activities.

Conclusion

The inevitable conclusion from all these observations is that home education does not impose any academic or social handicaps on children, and involves parents in the education of their own children at the mist influential level. It has been helped by new technology which allows individuals to access the world's knowledge in their own homes.

So What About 'Socialisation'?

When secular authorities level accusations against home-schoolers, saying that home based education leads to inadequate socialisation, we must find out exactly what they mean by 'socialisation'. If you press them to define what they mean, the are invariably asking the question: "How will your child learn to relate to children of his or her own age?", i.e. horizontal socialisation. Or that at the back of their minds may be the fear, "I don't want your children to become too different to mine" for a variety of reasons, perhaps because this reflects badly on their own parenting, or perhaps for political or ideological reasons, such as the communist imperative to make everyone the 'same' and to discourage excellence and individuality. Their reasons can be many so you need to probe to find out exactly what they mean.

In the Christian model of education, the Scriptures teach that children are to relate with love and respect to people of all ages, not just their peers (those of the same age group):

"Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which Yahweh your Elohim (God) is giving you" (Ex.20:12, NKJV - also Dt.5:16).

"For Elohim (God) commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death'" (Matt.15:3-5, NKJV).

"Children, obey your parents in Yahweh, for this is right. 'Honour your father and mother,' which is the first commandment with promise: 'that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.' And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of Yahweh" (Eph.6:1-4, NKJV).

As Christians we believe it is the duty of the father to bring up his children (Eph.6:4), not strangers in a school. Moreover, we are commanded to protect our children from the negative influences of secular socialisation:

"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea" (Mark 9:42-43, NKJV).

"Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honour to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered" (1 Peter 3:7, NKJV).

As I have mentioned, the #1 reason parents of all backgrounds take their children out of the state or public schooling system is precisely because 'socialisation' was the issue. The majority of teachers in the state sector may be doing their best for the children in the classroom but most of us are perfectly aware of what goes on in the playground and all the social problems that grow out of that wild soil. Godly 'socialisation' is learning to respect those in authority over us and to relate humbly with those beneath us.

Finally, where in life (outside and after school) are we grouped together for social reasons with a lot of people of virtually the same age? It just doesn't happen! The classroom and playground situation may then be said to be an 'unnatural socialisation experience' because it does not relate to the real world outside.

A recent analysis, produced by the secular academia in Canada, demonstrates not only that extra-system education is a good idea but an imperative, given the underlying agendas of public or state school structures.

Adapted from Home Education Handbook of the European Academy for Christian Home Schooling (TEACH), pp.12,53-54.

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it"
(Proverbs 22:6, NKJV)